


Water Under Fire

by spideraudrey



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Meetings, Lailah raises Mikleo AU, Zenrus doesn't raise Mikleo AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 04:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13379856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideraudrey/pseuds/spideraudrey
Summary: Short little story based on @hyliansnacks idea of Lailah raising Mikleo instead of Zenrus.Mikleo is raised in Ladylake, so meeting a human with resonance for the first time is rather shocking for him.





	Water Under Fire

**Author's Note:**

> here's the link to hyliansnacks original post, which is beautiful art pls go look at it https://hyliansnacks.tumblr.com/post/169679608417/this-is-all-mostly-a-self-indulgent-au-where

Growing up with Lailah had never been lonely.

Despite never having anyone else to talk to, despite their elements being opposites, and despite her dancing around her words with him, growing up with Lailah was a remarkable experience.

The fire seraph taught Mikleo so much about the world. She regaled him with stories of faraway lands, going on and on about lavish lifestyles and crumbling ruins. There was plenty she kept from him, and he learned from a young age that if she went off on a tangent, there was no prying the answers he wanted from her. But all in all, she taught him much, and things were never boring.

People watching never seemed to get old, and seeing the church goers and royal knights alike pour in and out of the shrine church’s doors provided endless entertainment for the young water seraph. He learned all of their names, many of their habits, their likes and dislikes, their hopes and wishes. Sometimes people would stop coming through the doors, and sometimes there would be new faces. But all of them were different, and yet all shared one grand similarity.

None of them could see him.

Well, not just him. None of them could see Lailah either. She told him it was a simple fact of life. She told him almost all humans lost their resonance. And then she told him no more on the subject. After hitting her walls over and over again, he knew asking her about such a subject would get him nowhere.

Even on days when he could stand to sit idly by no longer, Lailah would turn a blind eye and let Mikleo pretend to sneak away. At first he would merely wander around town, and then he would spend hours cooped up in the different libraries, reading all he could.

Over the years though, his restlessness only increased. The boy was more than eager to go exploring, wanting to seek out and see these faraway places Lailah had told him so much about. He knew he couldn’t go far, not with the state of the world being what it was, but he could go back to exploring the city. Surely there were still parts of it still unknown, even to him. Eventually he stumbled upon the aquaducts running beneath the city.

It was then that he had his first run in with real malevolence.

Of course he had seen small bits of malevolence before. He had felt it seeping from some of the people in town. But the aquaducts were different. They held real malevolence. They held hellions.

He was in over his head, when the first monster struck out. His water artes protected him, but he held no powers of purification. Growing up with Lailah let him know his limitations on the matter quite thoroughly. Luckily, his guardian stepped in, feeling that something was wrong. Still, even the Lady of the Lake can’t wield the flames of purification without a human vessel. Without a Shepherd.

So they fled the ducts, and let the corridors seep in the malevolence.

Luck seemed to stay with Mikleo, because it was less than year later when his life truly changed.

Day in and day out of the same faces, the same names, the same city. It all blurred together for Mikleo, and yet things were beginning to change. The malevolence in the world was growing stronger, and he could feel Lailah’s uneasiness growing with it, despite her cheery attitude.

And then the Princess Alisha held the Sacred Blade Ceremony again. Mikleo could barely remember the last one, he was so young when it had been held. But he was excited to see it again, with fresh eyes. It brought new people to town, and the shrine church was more full than it had ever been in his memories.

He didn’t expect anything of the ceremony, not really, so he stood by while man after man tried to pull Lailah’s artifact from it’s pedestal. The sword would not budge so long as the humans held no resonance. It couldn’t be pulled from the stone so long as the people could not ask Lailah to form the pact with them.

Mikleo is so used to going unseen that he instantly tenses when he feels like he’s being watched. His gaze goes directly to Lailah, thinking maybe she was looking at him, trying to get his attention for whatever odd reason. But she’s just sitting idly, watching the men try and fail to pull the sword out. He can see the disappointment on her face, no matter how she tries to hide it from him.

But if it’s not her eyes he can feel on him, that begs the question: whose are they?

His immediate thought is those of a hellion, and he shifts into a more defensive stance, eyes moving to scan the large hall.

But instead of sensing or seeing a hellion nearby, his eyes lock onto green. And those eyes are staring right back at him.

At first he turns, looking behind him to see if there was someone else the boy was actually looking at, but the soft chuckle from nearby make his face go pink, and he turns back to get a better look at him.

Mikleo doesn’t think that there’s anyone or anything else he could be staring at, but the mere idea of this boy being able to see him has him shocked. He takes in as much as he can; the messy brown hair, the bright green eyes, the silly feathers adorning his ears, and before he can look further, an unfamiliar voice shocks him even further.

“Do I, uh, have something on my face?”

He’s grinning, one hand brought up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his head, and Mikleo is staring. He knows he’s staring, but this boy is acting as if he can see him. One more glance behind him to make sure there isn’t some other human this guy must be speaking to, but again he comes up empty.

“You can see me?”

The words are tentative, the young seraph not really wanting to put too much hope into this. But there is a hope there. Because if this boy can see him then he’s who Lailah has been waiting for since before Mikleo can even remember, and he’s someone other than Lailah for Mikleo to talk to.

“Oh. I mean, yeah. Sorry, I guess I should introduce myself, I’m-”

“Mikleo!”

Lailah’s voice cuts the human boy off, and Mikleo quickly turns to face her, and then to face the direction she’s looking. The fire seraph has a look of fear on her face, and rightfully so. Malevolence has overflown from somewhere, and Mikleo was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to even notice. Hell is quickly breaking loose, the hellion all but invisible to the humans- all but one at least.

The boy Mikleo had been facing jumps into action, quickly running down to where Lailah is sat, and even from this distance Mikleo can hear their conversation.

As horrifying as the situation is, as terrifying as it is to have that huge hellion wreaking havoc on the shrine church, Mikleo is still in awe of watching this boy take up the mantle of the Shepherd.

He watches the boy ask Lailah’s name, listens to him speak his own name in return, and is rooted to his spot as the boy- no, as Sorey pulls the sword from its home. The newly named Shepherd armatizes with Mikleo’s guardian, and spares him a glance.

“Mikleo! Can you do something about those fires?”

His brain stutters for a moment, wondering how this boy knew his name, before remembering that Lailah had called out to him, moments before. And just like that he nods, “Right! I got it, Sorey!”


End file.
